The Quest for Atlantis
by cmeredit
Summary: Our favorite duo is whisked on another adventure that brings them to the ancient hidden city of Atlantis! WARNING: Tulio x Miguel slash & rated M for future mature scenes. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: The Road to El Dorado and all related characters do not belong to me. They belong to Dreamworks.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey everyone! I really appreciate all of the wonderful comments and favorites on my previous El Dorado tale, "Never Forget". It really inspired me to write more on our favorite duo Tulio and Miguel! Unlike my previous fic, this is a multi-chapter story. Tulio and Miguel have not made their journey to El Dorado. In fact, this story has nothing to do with El Dorado. Tulio and Miguel are whisked on a similar adventure that bring them to the ancient city of Atlantis! Unfortunately there will be no Altivo, because he would really complicate things and I'd probably forget to write about him halfway through. Anyway, here's the first chapter to their new adventure! I've got some great ideas, so I encourage you to read on as I put up chapters. Thanks for reading and please review!

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Chapter One: Cast Off

The narrow streets of Spain were littered with civilians with busy lives. Crowds gathered along the market plaza, voices almost as loud as the music in the distant city center. Mandolin strings were plucked and strummed, flutes and bells accompanied the jaunty melody, motivating the people to rhythm their footsteps. The sun was high and bright and those rays danced with the music as they reflected off of traveling soldiers' armor. Tall, brutish men squandered the streets, one hand on the hilt of their sword while the other shielded their eyes from the harsh sunlight, glaring down the dark alleyways.

"Clear." One of the men uttered with an annoyed undertone, gesturing his fellow soldiers that the area was secured and combed. There was nothing threatening about the darkness of the alley, just a pile of empty ale barrels. "Search the square and secure all exits. I have a feeling they haven't gone too far." Their voices were but echoes to the ears of their victims. As the men dispersed from the edge of the alley, a very eager pair of emerald eyes peered over one of the empty ale barrels. A hand flew out from the darkness and pulled the gaze out of view as a fourth soldier passed the alley. Slowly, the pair of eyes remerged and a figure stood from the back of the barrel.

"Let's go then." Miguel gave a smirk and began his way towards the streets, only to be stopped by a weight that suddenly grabbed onto his forearm and yanked him backwards.

"Not yet, you lunatic! We can't just go out there without a plan."

"I thought we had a plan?" The blonde raised a curious eyebrow. Tulio gingerly smacked himself in the forehead.

"Did you not hear those metal-headed behemoths? They're blocking the exits!" The raven-haired man scowled through clenched teeth. Miguel cowered against the wall as Tulio flailed his arms in animated angst.

"Well don't snap at me!" The blonde pouted with angled brows, placing his hands on his hips and then crossed them over his chest.

"I'm not snapping," Tulio spat, pointing a finger in the other male's face, "I'm trying to figure a way to save us from the guillotine."

"Tulio."

"This is serious, Miguel."

"Tulio..."

"If we get caught this time there's no talking out of it. We need a really good disguise."

"Tulio!"

"What?!" Miguel took Tulio's pointy chin and directed towards the empty ale barrels that they had been hiding behind.

A few moments later, the two conmen had encased themselves in the confinement of the wooden barrels and were well on their way to sneaking around the guards. Walking barrels wasn't exactly a common sight in Spain, or anywhere for that matter, especially when all they had to see through was a small hole meant for a cork.

"This isn't really what I had in mind when I said we needed a good disguise." Tulio whispered hoarsely, trying to direct the both of them across the alleyways and busy streets. "In fact, this is probably the worst disguise since the Trojan Horse."

"Yes, but the horse worked for them, didn't it?" Miguel returned with a smirk in his voice.

"That isn't the point! The Trojans were brainless barbarians, these are highly intelligent Spanish soldiers! Wait - shhh!" Tulio paused, his partner clanking into him before they went dead on the streets as four soldiers walked towards them. They were busy chatting amongst themselves while the two wanted men shivered inside of their barrels. They also obliviously were stationed in front of the most popular ale house, where dozens of people sat outside to enjoy their cool drink. They were about to get caught in front of their favorite place, where all of their acquaintances would laugh as they were dragged to be hung or decapitated.

"Look there, a few ale barrels for us working men." One of them scoffed, walking over to the near tavern and ripping a few mugs from the customers that sat outside. The civilians gasped and glared, completely appalled by their brutish behavior and quickly left, leaving the tavern and the street vacant. A second soldier grabbed two faucets and jammed them into the cork holes, putting Tulio and Miguel in complete darkness. "What's this?" They all grew silent, inspecting something. The two conmen inside of the barrels put their hands together and prayed. Tulio was just about to reveal himself and run when the third soldier kicked his barrel. "They're empty! That just goes to show you the kind of respect these peasants give to the men that fight for their lives. Toss 'em into the bay; Cortez will be coming through here any minute and we don't want any garbage in his way." The four men shoved the two barrels onto their sides, almost causing Miguel and Tulio to tumbled out. The soldiers hadn't noticed their legs and feet as they turned and kicked the barrels to roll off the edge of the street and into the harbor. They didn't even hear the two men shriek as they splashed into the water, bobbing along the large ships.

"Greeks: one; Spanish Soldiers: zero." Miguel snickered as they floated on the gentle waves, their barrels quickly filling with water. Tulio was tempted to retort, but merely scowled to himself in defeat.

Eventually they had to ditch the ale barrels as they sunk into the ocean, leaving the two men to swim to safety. Safety, however, was a rather scarce thing to come by and they decided to hide on the port side of one of the large harbored ships, away from any eyes. First thing was to get them out of the water without being seen and they were lacking a disguise, practical or otherwise. Tulio spotted a long rope seeded from the deck of the ship, branching into the sea. It was the anchor and the perfect thing to grab onto.

"Here's the plan: We climb this rope, get on deck, get to the dock, and run until we hit China." The raven-haired Spaniard gave a confident smirk, Miguel pursing his lips. The blonde didn't argue, however, and followed Tulio in grabbing onto the sturdy rope and slowly making their ascent towards the deck of the ship some twenty-some feet up.

"All hands on deck! Man the boat you lazy brutes! Step the mast, hoist sail and prepare for cast off!" A voice hollered from aboard the deck and all silence was void. Crewmen stomped around the ship, unfurling the large white sails that filled with generous wind. Miguel glanced up at Tulio, who was halfway up the line, and gave him a very concerned look. "Haul anchor, hard to port!" Now that made Tulio nervous. The partnering Spaniards swallowed their fear with an audible gulp as the rope they clung to was slowly being pulled up towards the deck. Tulio swatted Miguel and shoved him further down the rope, sliding down until they both sat in the curves of the anchor. Luckily, they hadn't pulled the anchor onboard, but Miguel and Tulio were now dangling nearly twenty feet into the air. If they jumped into the water, their splash could attract some very unwanted attention. Before the two of them could further devise a plan, the ship began to move away from the harbor and they were sailing out to see on the ship's anchor. Tulio glared at the other male straddling the metal across from him.

"Don't blame me!" Miguel growled, furrowing his eyebrows, wrapping his limbs around the anchor.

"I blame you..."


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: The Road to El Dorado and all related characters do not belong to me. They belong to Dreamworks.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you all for the great reviews and watches/favorites! I apologize that it's taken me this long to update another chapter. This chapter contains some familiar dialogue/scenes from The Road to El Dorado, so spot them if you can! As always, I encourage you to R&R! Thank you!

Chapter Two: Troubled Waters

The sun had long ago dipped below the watery horizon of the ocean, leaving the moon in its wake. Dark clouds threatened the nightly glow, stretching like a dark hand towards the ship that Tulio and Miguel had fatefully stowed upon. Limbs dangling from the heavy iron of the anchor, the two exhausted men had yet to come up with a plan that would safely bring them back to Spain. The boisterous crewmen had all tied down their lines to break into a barrel of potent wine, turning them rabid with alcohol. While Tulio was about to feed himself to the sharks, Miguel wanted to join in the fun—inching closer to listen to the conversations of drunken sailors. A pair of men had wandered to the railing of the ship, leaning over to watch the waves as they drank, placed directly above the two conmen.

"Oy, I expect to be drinking every night like this if we're stuck on this floating carcass for a bloody month! It'll be worth it once we find what we're lookin' for." One hollered, while the other laughed; holding their large mugs loosely.

"You're just as crazy as Cortes! I bet you five, no… ten pesetas that we'll never find the place. We'll sail the whole damn ocean until we fall off the end of the world. That's what'll happen!" The second sailor scoffed, swinging his mug after drinking what was left in it. All the while Miguel had been listening intently with uttermost interest, wondering just what was considered crazy. Of course, the mention of Cortes didn't help his nerves, but he sloppily ignored that detailed as he immersed into his own thoughts.

"I'll take that bet! If anyone can find the Lost City of Atlantis, it's Cortes." The other smirked confidently before shaking his colleague's hand. The Lost City of Atlantis? Miguel's face instantly lit up, his heart fluttering, breathing labored. After hearing all of Tulio's pessimism of being killed or landing on an island teeming with cannibalistic savages, this was the best news he had heard all day!

"Tulio, did you hear that?" The blond tried to contain the excitement in his voice, bouncing on his side of the anchor. "Atlantis! That's where this ship is headed!" Miguel panted like an energetic pooch, whereas Tulio didn't particularly partake in the celebration.

"You're kidding…" The raven-haired male peeled his cheek away from the anchor, sitting up for the first time in hours, his back cracking painfully.

"Don't tell me you don't remember the promise we made when we were younger?" Miguel's smile quickly fell into a pout. His partner was completely unresponsive, rubbing his sore bottom from sitting on the hard iron. "You know… the one where we promised to one day sail across the ocean and find Atlantis?" No response again, that pale face only cringed when he picked a piece of seaweed from in between his toes. "Oh, come on! The night we spent in Barcelona!"

"I was drunk, Miguel! Very drunk." Tulio's complexion quickly turned from white to red, staring off into the sea. Clutching onto the anchor nervously, he fought for another argument. "I don't remember making any promises that night, so that one doesn't count."

"But we shook on it!" Miguel retorted with a whine.

"I don't remember that, either." The taller male barked with a glare that told the blond to drop the subject. "In fact, I don't remember anything about that night. Except for that foxy barista…" His tone suddenly changed, averting his gaze from his sullen partner back to the waves. Tulio had been absorbed into his memories, almost forgetting he was stuck on a ship sailing to a place that didn't even exist. Almost. He was quickly brought to reality when something very hard dropped onto the top of his head, causing him to shout out in pain. Tulio groaned and grabbed onto the aching patch of his cranium, giving the other male another glare. "What was that for? Don't hit people! Especially me!" Yet, Miguel was innocently pointing upward with a very uneasy expression.

Tulio followed his finger, gawking up at the deck where the two crewmen were glowering down at them. What had fallen onto the man's head happened to be a mug that one of them had dropped, in which they naturally looked down to see it sink into the ocean. Of course, when they looked down they saw more than just a lost mug.

Without a moment's pause, the crewmen had summoned a few hands to pull up the anchor. It took three men to pull the two ticks that sucked onto the iron, the both of them flailing and compulsively telling false tales on how why they were on their ship's anchor. They obviously didn't buy the stories and shackled them, then pushed them into a shady cabin where they stumbled onto their knees.

"My crew was as carefully chosen as the disciples of Christ," a dark voice filled the room and the duo instantly fell silent and cold. "And I will not tolerate stowaways." The man's silhouette became clear when a single lantern was lit.

"Cortes…" Miguel whispered in disbelief and fear.

"You will be flogged. And when we put into Cuba to resupply, God willing, you will be flogged some more… and then enslaved on the sugar plantations for the rest of your miserable lives. To the brig." Cortes cracked his knuckles, which were already encased in heavy leather gauntlets. Tulio couldn't have been anymore horrified as they were dragged away, and then literally tossed into a dark, damp room.

x x x

"Well… at least we're not on the anchor of the ship." Miguel gave a trying smile, breaking the silence. It had been several days since the two Spaniards had even spoken—besides Miguel's one-handed conversations, of course. "We've even got some hay to sleep in and some… uh," he arched a brow and picked up whatever was placed into a plate for them to eat with his thumb and pointer. "At least we've still got each other, hm?" The blond ended after tossing the mysterious meat back onto the plate, playing innocent. Tulio had stationed himself in the far corner of the room, curled into the fetal position, forehead against his knees. He had stayed like that for the last three days, it couldn't have been healthy. Miguel frowned, trying to bring some kind of life back into him. "Come on, Tulio. You should at least eat something. It—it's not that bad, really."

"Not that bad?" The other male muffled into his legs sullenly, slowly lifting his head. "Not that bad?" Tulio growled loudly before unfurling his body and stiffly propping himself up with his hands. "What… so… getting enslaved on a sugar plantation isn't that bad? Or, wait. Maybe it was getting put into shackles or sitting for hours on an anchor that wasn't that bad? What about getting personally exiled by Cortes? Or being stuck in this hole for weeks? That's not that bad, right?"

"Well… technically we're not in shackles anymore."

"That's not the point!" Tulio exploded, inches from Miguel's face, absolutely furious. "The point is that we're never going back to Spain! Ever! Say adios to our freedom, amigo!"

"Right, I believe Cortes covered that." Miguel added before taking in a slow breath, "But… Atlantis, Tulio…" he urged the idea upon him again. "Think of the possibilities! Endless troves of ancient treasure, adventure around every-"

"There is no Atlantis! There never was and there never will be. It's just a tale that some old geezer came up with for a good laugh." Tulio fell against a wall of the brig, letting out a tearless sob, short spasms and wheezes in tow. "I'll never love again! I'll never drink again! I'll never have enough gold!" The raven-haired male curled his knees up and cupped his face into his palms.

"You're being ridiculous. We've gotten out of tighter spots, yeah?" Miguel crawled towards his companion to lay a hand on his shoulder. Tulio quickly shrugged it off like a child and continued to pout. "Come on—we can't just roll over." The blond smiled warmly, finally getting a crack of smirk from his comrade. Suddenly, the boat lurched to port, then to starboard, throwing the two around the small cabin. They clashed into each other, Tulio butting heads with Miguel, then getting the blond's thumb gracefully in his eye. After a shout of pain, the boat recovered and steadied.

"Great! Stupendous! What next?" Tulio grunted through caged teeth as the two became entangled in their own limbs. Before they could fully free themselves, the boat lurched a second time, tossing the Spaniards to the opposite end of the brig. Tumbling into the stiff straws of hay, they recovered only to be manipulated continuously by the ship. "What the devil is going on?" The taller man snapped, dragging Miguel to look up at the small barred window of their cell.

"All hands on deck! All hands on deck!" A faint voice was heard over a blustering wind that was ripping through their sails. "Batten down the hatches! Bring in those sails, you baggards!" What seemed like thousands of footsteps were heard tearing up the steps of the ship's cabins, all flooding onto the deck, preparing the ship.

"Here, just… give me a boost." Miguel fumbled and crawled onto Tulio's shoulders, hoisted up to try and visually detect what exactly was going on. Where they in the middle of a storm? A passing squall perhaps? He pressed his face against the cold bars of the brig, emerald eyes craning into the darkness. There was nothing but shouting and the whipping of the wind, until the boat had overturned forty five degrees, nearly capsizing—as if they were struck. Tulio lost his footing, sending him and Miguel onto their backs. A canon had flown back from the side of the ship, smashing into the iron bars, missing Miguel's fingers by a fraction of a second. After a moment of filling air back into their lungs, they looked up to see that the brig window had been lost with the canon, leaving a large open space. The duo looked at each other quizzically and then quickly scrambled to climb onto the deck.

"Holy sheet!" Tulio cried out before yanking Miguel onto the floor of the deck, narrowly avoiding a flying rig and sheet of the ship's largest sail. The sail blanketed the deck, blinding most of the crew as the ship tossed in the waves.

"Miguel?" The raven-haired male cried out, crawling through the darkness between the sail and the floorboards. "Miguel?" Again he shouted, groping for his friend. His wrist was grabbed by the blond, adding to Tulio's panic.

"Tulio! We've got to get out of here. Something's not right."

"You think?" Tulio huffed, navigating them through the fabric. Just as they exited, a thunderous roar shook the ship. The two conmen gazed out towards the sea to see the silhouette of an enormous tail disappear into the abyss of the ocean. Their jaws dropped, frozen in their stead.

"Tulio? What was that?"

"Let's not wait here long enough to find out." Tulio took Miguel by the forearm and led him to the stern of the ship, where a few longboats had been secured for emergencies. This was an emergency, wasn't it? Miguel quickly began to fiddle with the rig, as did Tulio, and the pulley system suddenly fell apart, the rope slithering into the sea. "Damn it, Miguel! It's slack then pull, slack then pu-" he was cut off as the ship pivoted sharply once more, the two collapsing into the rowboat that was still on deck. Another roar caused their vessel to tremble, traveling thousands of miles underneath the waves. The entire craft was pulled in like the tide towards something emerging from the depths. Miguel and Tulio careened over to watch in horror as the remaining stars glistened on the head of a large creature. It rose from the waves slowly, it's black form casting into the shadows. Water cascaded down it's body like a black stone in a waterfall. Large, round eyes beamed a crystal blue from natural bioluminescence, along with oval-shaped abscesses that lined it's head and long spine. It opened it's massive maw and let out a prehistoric screech before hurdling down like a hammer, sinking it's enormous teeth around the entire girth of the ship. Biting down with force only God could conjure, it snapped the craft in two and then sunk back into the ocean.

The longboat that Tulio and Miguel had fallen into ejected into the air upon the immaculate contact. The two flew from their safety and into the waves. Miguel was first to find the surface, gasping as he found their overturned rowboat.

"Tulio!" He shouted and coughed as he inhaled sea water, trying to raise his voice over the screams of the soldiers and crewmen. The monster groaned under the wreckage, gliding beneath Miguel, it's eerie blue glow jetting towards the horizon.

"Miguel!" Tulio cried weakly, holding onto a piece of floating debris, paddling with one hand towards his friend and their rowboat. "We've got to overturn this thing!" He reached the rescue boat and the two coordinated themselves to heave the craft upright. They scrambled inside and collapsed in exhaustion, breathing heavily until they lost consciousness, drifting into the open sea.


End file.
